Those evil creatures had not deemed necessary to take care of his precious armour, the savages had cut most straps instead of unbuckling them... "they take as poor care of their gear as of their soul... fools" He salavaged al he could from his armour and put it on, a second skin to him and a symbol of his resolve to fight evil as long as an once of life would be in his body.Then he saw Flamebrand in the talons of Tencendur... The loyalty of a paladin is repaid a hundred times by that of his companions Seu heard once. And here was Flamebrand, a companion as noble and worthy as any and now with Tence, it felt like the 3 of them could erase all evil from the world just by themselves.The hilt of Flamebrand felt warm and reassuring in his hand. They sure had fought evil in its most despicable forms but there still was so much to cleanse... and the quest... the quest the Lady herself had assigned him "How twisted this world can be, I swear by this sword we are gong to straighten it !" the flames on the sword shined brighter all at once and after a whisper of Seu to his blade they vanished into the steel.He noticed the bottle Hisston had given him earlier, Seu felt reluctant to use a product of such an evil creature but he had to regain some forces, he wasn't sure to have fully recovered his powers and even if he still had them back, he'd need them to save his friends who had been thrown into that awful pit... All he could remember was the awful taste of it and right now he hadn't opened the bottle yet and he could already smell the atrocious stench of it.Seu drank the whole content at once and knelt to Hisston, though the darkest part of his heart wanted to end its life here and now, the good in him couldn't let him lower himself to that. He firmly tied the snakeman and began to search his body to find anything that could help him in his escape (and remove anything that could help Hisston to escape himself).One thing was very strange though, he had already drunk the whole bottle and yet the smell of it was getting heavier and heavier reaching an almost unbearable level only...

"SEU! We've come to rescue you! It's so good to see yoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

It took Seu a good half second more than it would have taken him if any other companion had been attacked

Seu busied himself immediately, donning his partially ruined armour as best he could. There was enough plate to cover all his vitals, but one pauldron just could not be attached at this point, and several other plates hung looser than they should. But he was already feeling more himself, with his armour on and Flamebrand at his side. He quaffed the hideous potion and then saw to the snakeman who was bleeding out on the floor.

Spoiler: QUEST NOTE

Seu's HP= 20/55Seu's AC= 2

Hisston looked up at Seu's face pleadingly, his blood-flecked lips working to speak.

"P...paladin.... hurk... help me... s...save... me...."

Seu put one knee to the ground, and holding the dying halfbreed's face close to his, he murmured, "Hisston, if only you had shown a tenth of your dedication in the service of Good, you'd be a hero, you would have the respect of all, and mine above all. I am not going to give you the death you deserve, I shall let you reflect on what you did for the little time you have left in this world so that you can make your life in the next a little more significant"

Hisston's eyes widened at the paladin's words, and he began to twitch and gasp ever harder, red foam bubbling from his mouth. The paladin held him until he passed away, the hideous forked tongue bulging from his mouth, eyes still staring at some unseen horror beyond the veil. Hisston Bloodenthrall was dead. But the next challenge loomed before them...

Suddenly a small, stinking creature came barreling through the secret door to the torture chamber. Bufo the halfling, looking suspiciously heroic, was shouting something about coming to his rescue - then Tence was on top of the little thief, ready to tear him to shreds.

"TENCE !, THEY ARE NO THREAT ! STOP AT ONCE ! " the paladin thought as hard as he could. The hippogryph paused with his beak wrapped around the halfling's throat, ready to tear it out in a heartbeat.

Are you sure? Tence’s words appeared in Seu’s mind. This one stinks of kobold, and tastes like ham.

“Seu!” Bufo’s muffled squeals could be heard from somewhere under all the indignant fur and feathers, “Seu! It’s licking me! It’s eating me make it stooop!”

The little hippogryph sprang lightly off of Bufo and retired to a corner to lick it’s paws. They were dark with snake blood, and the distaste was obvious on the creature’s face.Bufo huddled up against the legs of the gnome, clutching at himself as though fundamentally violated. He checked his pouches – all his nuggets were secure. He relaxed a little but didn’t stop glaring at the hippogryph for a very long time.

Spoiler: QUEST NOTE

Tence the Hippogryph is a magical creature that has now bonded with Seu as his mount, something that all paladins may call for from 4th level onwards. Since Seu is now level 6 and still doesn’t have a mount, I figured he needed something a bit less... ordinary.

Tence has several abilities which he can use with a system of ‘charges’. At his current level he has 12 charges per 24hr period. His powers are as so:

Shrink/Grow: 1 chargeTence appears normally as a large cat-sized animal, but he can, if required, grow to full size in order for Seu to ride him (and one other man-sized passenger if required). The transition from small to large requires a portion of Tence’s magical power to achieve, but he may return to normal without using power. At level 6 he gained the ability to shrink to a pocket sized monster if necessary, and this transition also requires an expenditure of magical power.

Turn invisible: 2 chargesTence is inherently magical. When Tence is down to his last couple of charges he will begin to tire and feel vulnerable – he will often request that he use these charges to become invisible and sleep. He will obey Seu if ordered to do otherwise though this may lead to exhaustion.

Polymorph self (cat, eagle or horse): 3 chargesTense may take on the appearance of a normal cat, eagle or horse with the expenditure of 3 charges. Turning back will not require a charge expenditure, but if he wishes to maintain the appearance of a normal animal from day to day, he must use a single charge to maintain it for another 24 hours. While in normal animal form he uses the stats for that creature, though his intelligence and telepathy will still remain.

Cure light wounds: 1 chargeTence may use this healing power at any time. It takes the form of a magical lick that restores a small amount of HP (1-4+2). This takes some time and cannot be done on the fly, such as in battle.

Tence has been in a deep slumber for centuries. He is intelligent and can communicate with others via telepathy. He can read Seu’s mind, but noone else’s. He may choose to talk telepathically to a group – if he does so the radius is about 10 feet. Otherwise he can communicate with Seu for 10” per level. Tence is currently level 6 like Seu, and they will advance together. At each level up Tence’s charge level will increase and he may develop other magical abilities over time.Tence is utterly faithful to Seu and will follow the paladin’s instructions, or those of a good aligned companion that Seu trusts. If he is asked to do something reprehensible to his good aligned nature, consequences may arise...

Bufo, having scraped together some dignity, and also nuggets, was feeling a bit uneasy. They had made a lot of noise, and the corridors outside were crawling with the hideous zombie-thralls of the yuan-ti. They mustn't hang around for long.

"Seu, we should probably go and find Yngwie and get the butts out of here, don't you think?"

"How are you doing my friends, I cannot express how happy to see you're safe, where are the others, I could hear Yngwie screaming during my all captivity, we should try and help him, Bufo, would you mind have a look if there's presence outside the room ?"

"Hisston's bedroom is back there," Bufo pointed a thumb back towards the secret door, "we haven't had a chance to loot... erm, I mean check it." Bufo swallowed guiltily at Seu's sudden glare and began stammering out a recap for the knight about all that had happened since they were seperated at the Pit.

"The others are alright. Actually they are heading towards the chamber to fight the misstress and probably meet certain doom, only she isn't really a demon with six, erm, parts, but really a young girl, and she has all her guards with her but we can't get to them because you're so big, and we fell into a big pool filled with marinade and the kobolds were going to eat me but I gave them some cooking lessons and they decided to keep me as a pet, and oh yeah, did I tell you they have a big city underground and tunnels everywhere and they all follow their big fat Papa and he nearly sat on me like 10 times but I was always too quick and..."

"Everyone's fine ? Lady be blessed !Let's check Hisston's room for some help then, we might find keys to Yngwie's cell or something... They're going to meet an impending doom you said ? that pleases me ..."

The childish smile on Seu's face was that of pride and joy, his companions had kept their focus on the goal and nothing could please him more for Seu knew that today would be a bad day as ever to be on the side of evil...

Had not Bari's cranium been in the way of the thing, one can only assume his heart would be in orbit for the speed at which it leapt into his throat. All feeling drained from his stomach. A bolt of electricity shot through the rest of his body, replacing any normal muscular functions with jelly.

"S-s-s-spiders..." he whimpered. He wanted to scream, but found himself unable to do anything at all. Not a thing.

But even as all the synapses screamed at him that his life was about to conclude, one synapse in particular had not yet received the memo, and posed the question: perhaps we should wave the staff about a little bit? Y'know, just to find, like, the wall. And the others. And the spiders. Perhaps we we know where all of those things are, we can, um, do someting? Yes?

So, ever so slowly, Bari gently prodded around him with the staff. Not too hard, one understands. Didn't want to upset any potential spiders or alert them to his presence. Gentle prodding, not too much commitment. Bari knew a ritual like that...

Spoiler: Questions

I've assumed that only Robin actually perceived the snake, so I've left Bari to his darkest fears until otherwise informed.

Bari will not approach the fallen torch. His view is that this is the last known place of the 50' spider and therefore realises that being there right now is a great way to meet said spider. In fact, he's crouching, iusing staff and hands to establish just where the ground and his immediate surroundings are.

As an aside, Bari did a Prayer just before we left (not from the staff, his own level 3 one) - I don't have access to my Players Guide, so I don't recall quite how the spell works, but is it still in effect?

Bari does have hold person available, but I can only assume he needs to see what it is he's trying to hold. So, party people, if we could shed some light on the situation, Bari might be able to overcome his imaginary arachnophobia...

Regards,Gaj

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Always interested in contacting any gamers interested in Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition!Also interested in any old 80's Citadel figures you may want to get rid of.